


Flattery Does Not Factor Into This Equation

by Lucy_Claire



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 16:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5298479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy_Claire/pseuds/Lucy_Claire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco can't help but be suspicious when Barry starts acting funny around him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flattery Does Not Factor Into This Equation

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: 'I'm flirting with you' requested by Tumblr used Salasaur

It was already after-hours - or at least after whatever hours the only residents of S.T.A.R Labs usually kept - and Caitlin had hurriedly clocked out and Wells had wheeled himself out and away leaving Cisco to clean up and lock up as usual. The only difference was that instead of jetting out Barry had stuck around to keep him company.

It wasn’t that Cisco minded the company, he really, really didn’t, he actually spent ages rehearsing excuses to get some alone time with Barry but he didn’t want to sound too clingy or like he didn’t have other friends so he never really bothered. No, it certainly wasn’t that, it was the question of why Barry stuck around long enough to watch Cisco meticulously clean his suit - okay,  _their_  suit - tidy up their monitor station and gather up the pile of junk food remains Barry left in his wake. Barry didn’t even have anything to do, (Cisco didn’t trust his impatient and clumsy self to touch any of his things) he just hung around, talking about everything and nothing.

If Cisco didn’t know any better he’d say Barry was either distracting them or stalling for something, but if Barry wanted to sneak something he could do it without Cisco noticing. So what was the catch here?

“So I said,  _‘Joe, how can you not like Star Wars? It came out around the time you were a kid, it was, like, a part of your childhood, it should be to you what Harry Potter was to me,’_ and he said something about it being too ridiculous and watered-down science fiction like  _Back to the Future_  being more his thing.”

“If that’s the kind of hand-wavey science he can handle then dealing with you geeking out about your Physics homework must have been the headache of a lifetime,” Cisco teased, bending over to pick up the stray hamburger wrappers that flew away from the pile the last time Barry zoomed through the room.

Barry laughed, maybe a bit too hard, and leaned over the desk, looking down at Cisco with face resting in his palm. “You have no idea. I had to and still have to tone down everything I say around almost everyone, even at the crime scenes, because they don’t get any of this stuff.”

“Dude, same! My family still doesn’t get why I got into this subject to begin with, they think it’s some kind of overrated bullshit.”

“Right? They’re content with knowing that ‘what goes up must come down’ and they move on with their lives.”

Cisco quickly stood upright, shaking his hands. “How can they live like that though? Not knowing the half of it, not even an eighth of how the world works and all the steps you have to go through to figure out how one thing works and why.”

“Or how you can manipulate things that might seem impossible, like how I do with my speed. How can they not want to know more?”

Cisco had to stop in his fervent geeking out to really take a look at Barry, how passionate he was about this just like he was but the fixed gaze he had on Cisco wasn’t the kind of amusement you’d get from a fun conversation, it was kind of foreign to Cisco. Like he wanted something.

“I guess some people are afraid trying to know more, like what if the way you look at something is completely ruined once you know the truth?”

“I guess you just have to take that risk then, it might be worth it to know if it works out the way you want it to or not rather than just to be stuck floating in the void, not knowing whether the reaction you get is positive or negative.”

Something told Cisco that they weren’t talking about learning the secrets of reality anymore.

“I see your point, I really do.”

Barry smiled at him. “I know you do, you’re the only one who really does. I think you’re the first person I’ve ever met that really gets me and actually wants to talk about the parts of me that everyone likes to just roll their eyes over.”

Cisco felt a bit hot around the collar. He bent back down to keep collecting the wrappers. “Like what?”

“You know, the obsession with how things work, with how they got there and how we can trace them to get answers, about the chemistry, the physics and all the geeky shit that stayed with us from all the sci-fi and fantasy movies we crammed ourselves with.” 

Cisco’s hair fell over his face and Barry reached over and pushed it behind his ears. “I really feel like you’re the only one who really sees me, with the mask on or not, and I, well, I really wanted you to know how much that - how much you mean to me.”

Okay, this was getting too much for him, he had to get out of here before he could hear what he wanted to hear and make an ass out of himself.

Cisco quickly left the room, which was stupid because Barry rushed after him and blocked his way. “Hey, where’re you going?”

Well, he had to face this somehow. 

“Barry, man, look, whatever it is you want this is not you can get it from me.”

Barry frowned. “What?”

“The favor you want, what is it?”

“Favor?”

“Yeah, the favor you’ve been buttering me up for for the past hour.”

“I don’t need a favor.”

“Then what is all this flattery?”

Barry laughed, actually doubling over and laughing. “I’m not buttering you up, I’m honestly not.”

“If you’re not flattering me for something then you’re mocking me?”

Barry put his hands on Cisco’s shoulders, trying to keep his face steady. “Dude, I’m flirting with you.”

Cisco blinked. “That’s funny, I thought I heard you say you were flirting with me.”

“You heard right.”

Cisco looked around, just to be sure Barry wasn’t talking to someone else, and pointed at himself. “Me?”

“You.”

“Why me?”

“I literally just listed off all the reasons why.”

Cisco felt both embarrassed and a bit pleased with himself for not stuttering over his words. “Maybe I need to hear them again.”

Barry got even closer, looking just as embarrassed but powering through it. “Maybe you do.”

“God, we’re so awkward.”

Barry tucked Cisco’s hair back behind his ears again. “That we are.”

Taking a risk, Cisco grabbed hold of Barry’s head and brought their mouths together. Turned out the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. It might need him to run more tests.


End file.
